Thesis - 02 Experiment with Flag Frames

Visual Experiment: Frames

This week for a quick experiment, I wanted to explore what I’ve been observing on Amazon in an analog format. I could easily photoshop different flags, images, and slogans on to the image I’ve been researching. Instead, I printed a few variations of the scene of investigation and cut-out the flag area, which was being manipulated digitally. On another frame from the scene, I cut-out a protest signs and slogans from both the Trump march and the counter-protest. I then held these frames up to various moments of my own home and my walk between the bus stop and work. In this way, I was able to experiment with making the content of the flag be stolen moments and memories from my own life.

Observations:

• Working with the people, flags, and some of their apparel in this way, I found myself thinking about paper dolls. Changing out the outfit or signs for different people, I found myself changing the small stories I was forming about them. I felt like I was in control over these people in a way that was different than manipulating the images in photoshop. I think perhaps it was the simplicity of switching, combined with the ability to hold the people and items in my hands.
• When just the primary flag was cut out, I found myself searching for backgrounds with the question “What else can I have her hold?” When I had cut-outs from both sides, I found myself hunting for items with the question “What else can they agree on?”
• Walking outside and looking for flags to fake, I started looking at the messaging that I was walking past everyday in a different light. What would it mean to take a moment from my day and put it on a flag?
  

Ideas:

• What about a statue shaped like a flag on that spot of the street in Wheeling, WV? The flag could be chrome, and people would be encouraged to pose with the flag. The reflective surface would capture the photographer, as well as the subject.

Mixing Messages

Flags From Around My Home

Flags From My Commute

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